RFMD deploys laser dicer in production fab
RF Micro Devices has qualified a laser dicing tool in full production at one of its GaAs fabrication facilities.
The Greensboro, NC, company, which holds an estimated 44% share of the power amplifier (PA) market, is one of the biggest GaAs chip manufacturers in the world, and is thought to be the first to use a fully automated laser dicer in production.
Supplied by the Swiss company Synova, the system is unique in that it features a water jet to both guide the laser beam and cool the semiconductor wafer surface.
First used in medical applications, the Synova tool has since been employed for silicon wafer processing. However, developing the system for dicing of GaAs wafers has proved more problematic because of the toxicity of gallium and arsenic, which can be released during the laser-dicing process.
Synova claims that wafer damage and toxic contamination cannot be avoided with "dry" laser dicing, although such systems have been trialled by GaAs chip manufacturers in the past.
In the latest installation at RFMD, 100 micron-thick GaAs wafers have been diced to give a 23 micron kerf. According to Synova, through-cutting was achieved in a single pass of the laser beam at a speed of 50 mm/s.
